Noncontact id card or the like and method of manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

This noncontact ID card or the like comprises an antenna circuit board having an antenna formed on a substrate and an interposer board having expanded electrodes formed on a substrate where an IC chip is embedded, the expanded electrodes being connected to electrodes of the IC chip, wherein both boards are stacked in such a way that the electrodes of the antenna are joined to the expanded electrodes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns a noncontact ID (identificationinformation) card or the like and a manufacturing method of the same.

2. Related Art

Conventionally, the classification information is obtained by many typesof bar codes printed or adhered on a card type paper, for instance, suchas a tag attached to a merchandise and such bar codes, being simpleprinting to the paper, presents a high productivity and a low cost.

On the other hand, the IC (integrated circuit) chip, different from thebar code, not only indicates information, but also increases thequantity of information by leaps and bounds and, at the same time,permits to rewrite the information. Moreover, the IC chip is beingincreased in the productivity and reduced in the price. Therefore, aso-called noncontact ID card, noncontact tag or the like packaging ICchips on an antenna circuit board (such things shall be calledcollectively noncontact ID card or the like, hereinafter.) comes to beused.

As it is well known, the noncontact ID card or the like hides a broadapplicability for ID recognition, electronic settlement, or others,because they can read and write simultaneously a quantity of informationand, what is more, assure a high security. Consequently, their wider usecan be accelerated by leaps and bounds, provided that theirmanufacturing cost is reduced.

However, the noncontact ID card or the like are manufactured, ingeneral, by heat pressing antenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b of an antennacircuit board 2 to which an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) 1 andbumps 5 a, 5 b of the IC chip 4 in a precisely registered state, inshort, by bonding the both, as shown in FIG. 16.

As a result, a high accuracy bonder installation is required, and therewas a problem of high manufacturing cost (mainly packaging cost). Whatis more, it is extremely difficult to prevent the increase ofmanufacturing cost, because the productivity lowers though the bondinginstallation price tends to rise a degree as a more accurate packagingtechnology is required, according to a further size reduction andminiaturization of the IC chip 4.

It should be appreciated that the bumps 5 a, 5 b of the IC chip 4 arebonded by heat pressing to the antenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b of theantenna circuit board 2 in a manner to straddle an antenna 6 connectedto them; however, the antenna 6 is formed into a plurality of turns as,for instance, 6 turns or others (refer to FIG. 17), and defines theantenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b at both ends thereof. Consequently, the linewidth of the antenna 6 should be miniaturized following the sizereduction and miniaturization of the IC chip 4, and a high precisionantenna forming technology is required; so it was difficult to preventthe increase of manufacturing cost, also from this point.

It is a first object of the present invention to provide a noncontact IDcard or the like allowing to project the prevention of increase ofmanufacturing cost (mainly packaging cost) of noncontact ID card or thelike, by permitting to register easily the electrode of the chip and theantenna electrode of the antenna circuit board, even if the IC chip isreduced in size and miniaturized, and a manufacturing method of thesame.

Also, it is a second object thereof to provide a noncontact ID card orthe like allowing to keep the electric bonding state of the electrode ofthe IC chip and the antenna electrode of the antenna circuit boardsatisfactory (keep in the conductive state) in addition to theinsulation of the predetermined points, even for the noncontact ID cardor the like of the laminated structure of the antenna circuit board andinterposer board and a manufacturing method of the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the aforementioned objects, the noncontact ID cardor the like of the present invention comprises an antenna circuit boardwith an antenna formed on a substrate, and an interposer board with anexpanded electrode formed on a substrate where an IC chip is embedded,the expanded electrode being connected to an electrode of the IC chip,wherein both boards are laminated in a manner to bond the electrode ofthe antenna and the expanded electrode.

As both boards are laminated in a manner to bond the electrode of the ICchip and the antenna electrode through the expanded electrode in thisway, both electrodes can be registered easily each other despite the ICchip size reduction and miniaturization and, consequently, the increaseof manufacturing cost (mainly packaging cost) of noncontact ID card orthe like can be prevented.

In the present invention, for bonding the antenna electrode and theexpanded electrode, the antenna electrode and the expanded electrode maybe bonded by an electric conductive adhesive agent, or the antennaelectrode and the expanded electrode may be bonded directly, by gluingthe substrate of the antenna circuit board and the substrate of theinterposer board.

Also, an insulating adhesive agent is preferably disposed between thesubstrate of the antenna circuit board and the substrate of theinterposer board, in a way to seal an antenna formation portion of theantenna circuit board and an electrode formation portion of the IC chip.Further, the IC chip electrode may have advantageously an under barriermetal layer.

The insulation of predetermined points and the bonding of both boardscan be reinforced by charging insulating adhesive agent between theantenna circuit board and the interposer board, and the electric bondingstate of the electrode of the IC chip and the antenna electrode of theantenna circuit board can be kept satisfactory (kept in the conductivestate), by forming the under barrier metal layer (UBM layer) on the ICchip electrode. It should be appreciated that the substrate of theinterposer board and the substrate of the antenna circuit board may becomposed of a resin film.

On the other hand, the manufacturing method of the noncontact ID card orthe like of the present invention comprises steps of electrode formationfor forming an expanded electrode on a substrate of an interposer boardwhere an IC chip is embedded, the expanded electrode being connected toan electrode of the IC chip, and board lamination for laminating theinterposer board and an antenna circuit board in a way to bond anantenna electrode formed on a substrate of the antenna circuit board andthe expanded electrode.

Thus, as the expanded electrode is formed on the substrate of theinterposer board where the IC chip is embedded, and both boards arelaminated in a manner to bond the expanded electrode and the antennaelectrode, both electrodes can be registered easily each other despitethe IC chip size reduction and miniaturization and, consequently, theincrease of manufacturing cost (mainly packaging cost) of noncontact IDcard or the like can be prevented.

In case of interposing insulating adhesive agent between bothsubstrates, both boards may be laminated after an adhesive agentapplication step for applying insulating adhesive agent to theinterposer board, which have been through the electrode formation step,in a way to coat an electrode formation portion of the IC chip. Besides,the expanded electrode can be formed easily by the screen printingmethod.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a board lamination mode of a noncontactID card or the like of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of an interposer board;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a wafer where an IC circuit is formed;

FIG. 6 shows a dicing cut mode of the wafer;

FIG. 7 shows a raw material for manufacturing the interposer board, (a)is a plan view, and (B) a front view;

FIG. 8 shows a mode for inserting an IC chip into a chip embedding hole;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of essential parts of the interposer board;

FIG. 10 is a front view showing another board lamination mode of anoncontact ID card or the like of the present invention;

FIG. 11 shows another example of the interposer board;

FIG. 12 shows still another example of the interposer board;

FIG. 13 shows a mode for compressing laminated antenna circuit board andinterposer board;

FIG. 14 shows a configuration a manufacturing apparatus of noncontact IDcard or the like;

FIG. 15 is a view along Z—Z of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 shows a bonding mode of a conventional noncontact ID card or thelike; and

FIG. 17 is a plan view of an antenna formation portion of FIG. 16.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the present invention shall be described in detailreferring to the attached drawings.

In the present invention, a noncontact ID card or the like is composedby laminating an antenna circuit board and an interposer board. Theimage is shown by FIG. 1 which is a front view and, at the same time, anplan view image thereof is shown in FIG. 2. In both drawings, anunderside antenna circuit board 2 and an upside interposer board 7 arebound in a conductive state through an electrically conductive adhesiveagent 8.

And, the antenna circuit board 2 forms an antenna 6 and a pair ofantenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b connected to the same (refer to FIG. 17), ona substrate 9 composed of resin film. On the other hand, the interposerboard 7 holds an IC chip 4 embeded on a substrate 10 composed of resinfilm, and moreover, forms expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b connected to apair of electrodes of the IC chip 4.

It should be noted that an enlarged image of the interposer board 7 isshown in FIGS. 3, 4 and, in both drawings, the pair of electrodes 12 a,12 b of the IC chip 4 are, for instance, aluminum electrodes, and theyare connected to fine lead portions 11 a ₁, 11 b ₁ of the expandedelectrodes 11 a, 11 b. Thus, the interposer board 7 forms the expandedelectrodes 11 a, 11 b connected to the electrodes 12 a, 12 b of the ICchip 4, on a substrate 10 where the IC chip 4 is embedded.

As a result, in case of laminating the interposer board 7 in theconductive state in respect to the antenna circuit board 2, the expandedelectrodes 11 a, 11 b can be registered easily in respect to the antennaelectrodes 3 a, 3 b. And, based on this fact, the assembly operation ofthe noncontact ID card or the like can be performed by hands, forinstance, by an operator who laminates by holding the interposer board 7using an appropriate tool, or an operator who laminates by grasping theinterposer board 7, directly with his/her hands. Consequently, it can beplanned to prevent the increase of manufacturing cost (mainly packagingcost), despite the IC chip size reduction and miniaturization.

It should be appreciated that the electrically conductive adhesive agent8 for bonding the antenna circuit board 2 and the interposer board 7 inthe conductive state is the one presenting adhesivity or stickiness, maybe either paste form one or tape form one, and also, may be eitheranisotropic one or isotropic one. By using the one presenting thestickiness, the interposer board 7 laminated (packaged) on the antennacircuit board 2 can be removed easily as necessary.

The aforementioned adhesive agent 8 is applied to or put on the antennaelectrodes 3 a, 3 b of the antenna circuit board 2 or the expandedelectrodes 11 a, 11 b of the interposer board 7, before laminating bothboards. In general, it is applied to or put on the antenna electrodes 3a, 3 b of the antenna circuit board 2.

Also, in addition to the application or putting of the electricallyconductive adhesive agent 8, it is preferable to fill a sealing portion13 (refer to FIG. 1) between the substrate 9 of the antenna circuitboard 2 and the substrate 10 of the interposer board 7 with insulatingadhesive agent 14 so as to seal an antenna formation portion of theantenna circuit board 2 and an electrode formation portion of the ICchip 4, thereby, it can be planned to reinforce the bonding between theinterposer board 7 and the antenna circuit board 2 together with theshort-circuit prevention, and therefore, the electric bonding state ofthe expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b and the antenna electrodes 3 a, 3 bcan be kept satisfactory (in the conductive state).

The insulating adhesive agent 14 also, similarly to the electricallyconductive adhesive agent 8, is the one presenting adhesivity orstickiness, and may be either paste form one or tape form one.

Besides, the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b and the antenna 6 arepreferably formed by a printing method, for instance, screen printingmethod, from the aspect of cost reduction. Howsoever, they may be formedby another printing method, for instance, offset printing or others asnecessary, and furthermore, by other method than the printing method,for instance, sputtering method or the like.

As for electrically conductive adhesive agent 8 and insulating adhesiveagent 14, in general, thermosetting ones are used; however, the others,for example, those of normal temperature setting type or others may alsobe used, and in case of using the former, the same is heat fixed in apredetermined process of the manufacturing.

It is preferable that electrodes 12 a, 12 b of the IC chip 4 have anunder barrier metal layer (called UBM layer, hereinafter) that canensure the connection with the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b.

The aforementioned IC chip 4 can be manufactured as follows. In FIG. 5,first, a wafer 15 where an IC circuit for noncontact ID card or the likeis formed on the top face is prepared, and a glass passivation film 22(oxide film) is removed by etching selectively with a weakly acid liquidso that the electrodes 12 a, 12 b (for instance, aluminum electrode) ofthe circuit be exposed.

Then, after the activation treatment, it is soaked, for instance, in anelectroless nickel cell of 90° C. for 20 minutes for forming a nickelledlayer 17 of about 3 μm exclusively on the aluminum electrodes 12 a, 12 band, following this, it is soaked in an electroless gold plating cell of90° C. for 10 minutes for forming a gold plated layer 18 of about 0.1 μmon the nickelled layer 17.

Thus formed nickelled layer 17 and gold plated layer 18 prevents thealuminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b from deterioration, and furthermore,ensures the connection between the aluminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b andexternal terminals. This is an UBM layer 19.

Next, using a screen printer, a solder resist 20 is printed all over thetop face of the wafer 15 except for the aluminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b,then heated and set using an oven for forming, for instance, aninsulation layer of 20 μm in thickness. It should be appreciated thatheat setting type polyimide ink or the like are also effective in placeof solder resist.

Next, using a screen printer, a conductive paste 21 wherein silverparticles are dispersed is printed and charged into an opening portion(portion where the solder resist 20 is not printed) of the aluminumelectrodes 12 a, 12 b, and the same is heat set.

Next, a lower face 23 (face where the IC circuit for noncontact ID cardor the like is not formed) of such wafer 15 is polished, the thicknessthereof is processed, for instance, to 50 μm and, thereafter, as shownin FIG. 6, the top face (face where the IC circuit for noncontact IDcard or the like is formed) of the wafer 15 is affixed to a support film24, then, the wafer 15 is dicing cut to a predetermined size (forexample, 1.6 mm×2.0 mm) by turning a diamond blade 25, the IC chip 4obtained by this is removed from the support film 24, and it may bearranged in a pallet created by nickel electromolding.

The IC chip 4 may well be manufactured by the other methods differentfrom the aforementioned method and, by these methods, for instance, arectangular IC chip 4 having, for instance, a size of 1.2 mm×1.6 mm, andwherein square aluminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b of 100 μm one side areformed at the opposite angle positions thereof, can be obtained. Here,an IC chip 4 having tapered side walls may well be obtained by settingthe tip of a diamond blade 25 in V-shape, and dicing cutting the wafer15 by the same.

As also for the interposer board 7, for instance, it can be manufacturedas follows. First, a raw material 30 made of a resin film (for example,polyester base alloy film of 100 μm in thickness) having a large width,in short, a web form shown by FIG. 1(A) which is a plan view isprepared, and a plurality of chip embedding holes 31 are processedthereon in a predetermined pattern.

For instance, a nickel die having a plurality of bumps formed similar tothe IC chip 4 is heated to 240° C., applied to the resin film 30,pressed for 10 seconds, quenched, cooled down to 80° C. and extracted,for processing chip embedding holes 31 with hole pitch of 10 mm inlength and breadth, opening portion of 1.2 mm×1.6 mm and depth of 50 μm(refer to FIG. 7(B)).

It should be appreciated that the processing method of the chipembedding holes 31 may be laser abrasion method, plasma etching method,chemical etching method or others. However, the aforementioned pressmethod is preferable as it presents the best productivity.

Such raw material 30 is not limited to those of the aforementioned nonlaminated type, but may be those of laminated type. For example, it maybe a raw material of two-layered structure laminating a first rawmaterial composed of resin film and a second raw material composed ofresin film or metal foil. In case of raw material of the two-layeredstructure, it is preferable to laminate the first raw materialperforated with chip embedding holes 31 on the second raw material, inview of the easiness of hole processing.

Next, the IC chip 4 is inserted and fixed into the chip embedding hole31 of the raw material 30. At this moment, for instance, as shown inFIG. 8, it is preferable to transfer a trace of low viscosity epoxy baseresin 32 to the bottom of the chip embedding holes 31 using a transferpin, and then insert the IC chip 4.

The IC chip 4 inserted into the chip embedding hole 31 from an end wherethe aluminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b are not provided, and moreover, theinserted IC chip 4 is temporarily fixed with resin 32. Thereafter, a gapbetween the side face of the IC chip 4 and the side face of the chipembedding hole 31 is filled with adhesive and fixed.

However, the IC chip 4 may be inserted after having applied adhesive tothe bottom and side wall of the chip embedding hole 31. Besides, it ispreferable to perforate the bottom of the chip embedding hole 31 with ableed hole for venting during the heat setting of the adhesive.

Thus, the IC chip 4 can be embedded in the raw material 30 to make anappearance exposing only the aluminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b. In theembedding, the transfer of the IC chip 4 may be held, for instance, withthe help of a (not shown) nozzle of 1.5 mm in outer diameter having aair suction port of 0.5 mm at the middle portion, for sucking and takingout the IC chip 4 from the alignment pallet, and inserting into the chipembedding hole 31 of the raw material 30.

In addition, in case where an IC chip 4 having tapered side walls asmentioned above is obtained, the insertion of the IC chip 4 into thechip embedding hole 31 can be simplified furthermore. In short, as theIC chip 4 has a surface protected with an insulating layer, it can betreated as bulk similarly to general electronic components. There, theIC chip 4 can be delivered on the raw material 30 where a number of chipembedding holes 31 having tapered side faces, and the IC chip 4 can beinserted into the chip embedding hole 31 by ultrasonic vibration to theraw material 30. In this case, the productivity of interposer board canbe increased by leaps and bounds, because the IC chip 4 can be embeddedsmoothly, by tapering the side wall.

Next, the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b connected to the aluminumelectrodes 12 a, 12 b of the IC chip 4 are formed. They are formed byprinting conductive paste where, for example, silver particles aredispersed by about 70% using a screen printer, on a face where thealuminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b of the IC chip 4 embedded in the rawmaterial 30 are exposed. The conductive paste is identical to theaforementioned conductive paste 21 (refer to FIG. 5).

For instance, expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b of about 15 μm inthickness, 0.2 mm in breadth of lead portions 11 a ₁, 11 b ₁, 3 mmsquare in size of the enlarged portion and 8 mm in pitch of one enlargedportion and the other enlarged portion.

Then, the interposer board 7 can be obtained by stamping out in apredetermined size from the raw material 30 where the expandedelectrodes 11 a, 11 b are formed. For instance, it is stamped out in asize of 10 mm square. A part of the interposer board 7 obtained in thismanner is shown by enlarging in FIG. 9. It should be appreciated thatthe substrate 10 of the interposer board 7 is homogenous as the rawmaterial 30, as evident from the foregoing.

On the other hand, the antenna circuit board 2 can be manufactured asfollows. In general, a raw material of the same nature as theaforementioned raw material 30 (for instance, polyester alloy film of100 μm in thickness) is selected. Such raw material is not provided withchip embedding hole 31 and the width thereof is processed to apredetermined size.

Such raw material is transferred intermittently by reel-to-reel method,silver paste is screen printed to the same, and antenna circuits(antenna 6 and antenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b) are formed successively witha constant interval.

Then, it can be manufactured by stamping out into a predetermined sizein a subsequent process, in short, by stamping out into the unit size ofthe substrate 9. Here, the process for stamping out in the unit size ofthe substrate 9 may be performed after packaging (bonding) theinterposer board 7 where the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b are formedto the raw material where the antenna 6 and the antenna electrodes 3 a,3 b are formed.

In this manner, for instance, the antenna 6 of 0.25 mm in wiring width,0.5 mm in pitch thereof, 6 turns in number of turns, and 75 mm×45 mm inoutermost periphery can be formed and, at the same time, the antennaelectrodes 3 a, 3 b of 3 mm square in size and 8 mm in pitch can beformed at both ends of the antenna 6 (refer to FIG. 17).

The substrate 9 of the antenna circuit board 2 is not limited to thoseof the aforementioned non laminated type, but may be those of laminatedtype. For example, it may be those of two-layered structure laminating afirst raw material composed of resin film and a second raw materialcomposed of resin film or metal foil (for instance, aluminum foil).

In the following, the interposer board 7 is laminated on the obtainedantenna circuit board 2. At this moment, as the expanded electrodes 11a, 11 b are formed on the interposer board 2, both boards can be stackedby easily positioning the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b on the antennaelectrodes 3 a, 3 b of the antenna circuit board 2, by hands.

Before such lamination, for instance, electrically conductive adhesiveagent 8 is applied to the antenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b and, at the sametime, the sealing portion 13 (refer to FIG. 1) is filled with insulatingadhesive agent 14. Then, after the lamination, the conductive adhesiveagent 8 and the insulating adhesive agent 14 are heat set, for instance,heated at 90° C. for 5 minutes and set for fixing (bonding) the both.

The lamination by the aforementioned manual operation may well beperformed with in a range of ±1.0 mm to ±1.5 mm in lamination accuracy,and the noncontact ID card or the like can be obtained in this manner.The noncontact ID card or the like is a so-called inlet, which iscladded conveniently to make a commercialized product.

In the present invention, the interposer board 7 can also be laminatedin respect to the antenna circuit board 2 as shown in FIG. 10. In thesame drawing, an image for adhering the interposer board 7 to theantenna circuit board 2 is shown, and the insulating adhesive agent 14and non insulating adhesive agent 35 a, 35 b are affixed to thesubstrate 10 of the interposer board 7.

It should be appreciated that the insulating adhesive agent 14 iscomposed of insulating adhesive tape and, at the same time, the adhesiveagent 35 a, 35 b are composed of pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. Theseinsulating adhesive tape and pressure-sensitive adhesive tape are bothdouble faced tapes.

Consequently, both substrates can be glued to each other easily byapplying the interposer board 7 to the substrate 9 of the antennacircuit board 2 and, furthermore, the antenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b of theantenna circuit board 2 and the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b of theinterposer board 7 can be bonded in conductive state by making them intocontact, directly.

In the foregoing, the insulating adhesive agent 14 and adhesive agent 35a, 35 b are affixed to the interposer board 7 side; however, theinsulating adhesive agent 14 may be affixed to the interposer board 7side and, at the same time, the adhesive agent 35 a, 35 b may be affixedto the antenna circuit board 2 side.

Also, the insulating adhesive agent 14 may be affixed to the antennacircuit board 2 side and, at the same time, the adhesive agent 35 a, 35b may be affixed to the antenna circuit board 2 side. However, it ismost preferable to affix the both to the interposer board 7 side in viewof lamination by a simple movement.

It should be appreciated that the insulating adhesive agent 14 andadhesive agent 35 a, 35 b may be those of paste form; however, as it iseasier to affix those of tape form than to apply the same, it ispreferable to select this.

And, as for the adhesive agent 35 a, 35 b, in general, those of pressuresensitive type are used; however, thermosetting ones or others, forinstance, those of normal temperature setting type and so on may also beused and, in case of using those of thermosetting type, the heatfixation is performed in a predetermined process of the manufacturing.Furthermore, if necessary, conductive adhesive agent 8 may be applied oraffixed to the antenna electrodes 3 a, 3 b or expanded electrodes 11 a,11 b.

The interposer board 7 according to the present invention is not limitedto the one shown in the aforementioned FIG. 9, but it may well be theone configured in the other mode.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, it may be the one using a glasspassivation film 22 coated on the portion other than the electrode of awafer 15 as it is as insulating layer of the wafer surface, and formingthe expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b on the substrate 10 of the interposerboard 7 wherein an IC chip 4 having the glass passivation film 22 asinsulation layer is embedded.

Also, as shown in FIG. 12, it may be the one wherein a photosensitiveepoxy resin layer 36 is formed in a way to open only the electrodes 12a, 12 b portions on the substrate 10 of the interposer board 7 whereinthe IC chip 4 having the glass passivation film 22 as insulation layeris embedded and, at the same time, the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 bare formed on the photosensitive epoxy resin layer 36. Furthermore, itmay be the one wherein a solder resist 20 is formed in place of theaforementioned photosensitive epoxy resin layer 36.

Such photosensitive epoxy resin layer 36 or solder resist 20 in placethereof may be formed by impressing to a predetermined thickness using ascreen printer, after having inserted and fixed the IC chip 4 into thechip embedding hole 31 of the raw material 30, and, consecutively, aninterposer board 7 of the structure shown in FIG. 12 can be manufacturedby stamping out the raw material 30 by unit size of the substrate 10after having formed the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b on thephotosensitive epoxy resin layer 36 or solder resist 20 formed in thisway.

Note that the interposer board 7 of FIG. 9 and FIG. 12 which protectsthe IC chip 4 with the solder resist 20 or epoxy resin layer 36 is moreresistant to the thermal effect and easier to handle than the interposerboard 7 of FIG. 11 wherein they are not formed.

Besides, in the comparison of the interposer board 7 of FIG. 9 and thatof FIG. 12, a gap (difference in level) appears easily between the topface of the substrate 10 (face where the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 bare formed) and the top face of the solder resist 20, in the former,while it does not appear, in the latter; therefore, the latter is moreadvantageous for forming the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b thereon.

Concerning also the formation of such expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b,the formation is not limited to the aforementioned screen printingmethod, but they may be formed by another method. For instance, theexpanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b can be formed by forming a metal film byaluminum sputtering whole (all over) the face where the aluminumelectrodes 12 a, 12 b of the IC chip 4 embedded on the substrate 30 areexposed, then, applying resist all over the metal film, after drying thesame, forming a resist pattern mask by exposure and development, andconsecutively, removing aluminum of the mask opening portion by means ofaluminum etching liquid.

Moreover, the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b and antenna electrodes 3 a,3 b may be other material as necessary, and their shape, size, thicknessand so on are decided conveniently.

Also, the IC chip manufacturing method may well be the other method. Forexample, the aforementioned wafer 15 where the IC circuit for noncontactID card or the like is formed on the top is used, and polished to apredetermined thickness (say, 50 μm), a photo resist is applied anddried, thereafter, only portions of the aluminum electrodes 12 a, 12 bare exposed to the light using a photo mask and developed, and only thealuminum electrodes 12 a, 12 b are exposed by removing photo resistthereof.

Then, the wafer 15 is processed with plasma, oxide film on the surfaceof the aluminum electrode 12 is removed, thereafter, a titan tungstenlayer of a predetermined thickness (say, 0.5 μm) is formed bysputtering, and then, a gold layer of a predetermined thickness (say,0.05 μm) is formed on such titan tungsten layer and, at last, the photoresist is peeled off. The titan tungsten layer and the gold layer formthe UBM layer 19.

Following this, the wafer 15 is dicing cut to a predetermined size byturning a diamond blade, and the IC chip 4 obtained by this may be takenout from a support film 24.

Also, for the lamination of the antenna circuit board 2 and theinterposer board 7, in general, the interposer board 7 is laminated fromupside on the underside antenna circuit board 2; however, the interposerboard 7 may be bounded from the underside to the upside antenna circuitboard 2.

At this moment, it can be planned to make the lamination or bondingaccuracy constant, for example, by providing a L-shape mark on theantenna circuit board 2, or installing a guide pin, as means forpositioning the interposer board 7 in respect to the antenna circuitboard 2.

In addition, it can be planned to reinforce the bonding by compressingthe laminated both boards 2, 7 with a pair of upper and lower calkingtools 36 a, 36 b, as shown in FIG. 13. The noncontact ID card can beassembled by applying normal temperature instantaneous setting typeinsulating adhesive to the affixing position of the interposer board 7in respect to the antenna circuit board 2, affixing the interposer board7 thereto, and thereafter, pressing electrodes each other using thecalking tools 36 a, 36 b. For example, if an antenna circuit is formedbeforehand on the form of the freight or others, the interposer boardcan be affixed as necessary. Dimensions and the material quality of theantenna circuit board where the antenna circuit is formed can beselected arbitrarily. Also, a tape form interposer board may be wound upon a reel, paid out and cut as necessary similarly to the tag for barcode, and affixed to the antenna circuit board.

In the present invention, as mentioned above, both electrodes can beregistered each other simply despite the IC chip size reduction andminiaturization, because both boards are laminated in a way to bond theelectrodes 12 a, 12 b of the IC chip 4 and the electrodes 3 a, 3 b ofthe antenna 6 through the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b and,consequently, noncontact ID card or the like such as noncontact ID cardor noncontact tag, and so on can be manufactured by manual operation;however, they can also be manufactured using an apparatus shown in FIG.14.

The manufacturing apparatus comprises an antenna circuit board rawmaterial let-off gear 40, an antenna circuit printer 41, an oven 42, aninterposer board raw material let-off gear 43, a press cut apparatus 44,a remaining raw material winder 45, an interposer board temporaryaffixer 46, an interposer board transfer apparatus 47, an interposerboard final affixer 48, a dryer 49, and a product winder 50.

In the manufacturing apparatus, the antenna circuit (antenna 6 andelectrodes 3 a, 3 b) are printed by the antenna circuit printer 41 on araw material 37 delivered from the antenna circuit board raw materiallet-off gear 40 and, then, heated in the oven 42 to fix the antennacircuit. In parallel with this, a raw material 30 delivered from theinterposer board raw material let-off gear 43 is stamped out by thepress cut apparatus 44 to obtain the interposer board 7 of apredetermined size, and at the same time, the remaining raw material 30after the stamping of the interposer board 7 is taken up by theremaining raw material winder 45.

The interposer board 7 stamped out from the raw material 30 is held bythe interposer board transfer apparatus 47 and transferred to theadhesion point (laminating position), in short, transferred above theantenna circuit formed on the top face of the raw material 37. At thismoment, the positioning in respect to the antenna circuit formed on theraw material 37 can be performed easily, as the expanded electrodes 11a, 11 b are formed on the interposer board 7.

It should be appreciated that the raw material 30 delivered from theinterposer board raw material let-off gear 43 is the one where the ICchip 4 is embedded and the expanded electrodes 11 a, 11 b are formedand, at the same time, the insulating adhesive agent 14 and the adhesiveagents 35 a, 35 b are affixed (refer to FIG. 10) and, furthermore, theadhesion surface thereof is protected with a protection tape 51. This iswound up on a reel in a former process beforehand, and set on theinterposer board raw material let-off gear 43. In addition, during thedelivery of the raw material 30, the protection tape 51 is taken up andpeeled off the raw material 30. Thereby, the adhesion face (bottom faceside in FIG. 10) of the insulating adhesive agent 14 and the adhesiveagents 35 a, 35 b are exposed.

In FIG. 15, a transfer mode of the interposer board 7 is shown, and inthe same drawing, the interposer board transfer apparatus 47 comprises aslider with chuck 47 c that can be guided by a rail 47 b anchored to amachine base 47 a and moved to the arrow direction shown in the drawing,and a suction band 47 e for sucking and holding the interposer board 7stamped out from the raw material 30 by means of an absorber 47 d anddelivering the same to the slider 47 c.

For this purpose, when the slider with chuck 47 c grasps the interposerboard 7 with the chuck and moves to the point shown by a dotted line atthe right side, a suction head 46 a of the interposer board temporaryaffixer 46 moved above it moves downward to suck and hold the interposerboard 7, and then, after having moved upward, moves furthermore abovethe raw material 37 at the right side. In this manner, the interposerboard 7 can be transferred above the antenna circuit formed on the topface of the raw material 37, and, can be attached temporarily (bondedtemporarily) by moving the suction head downward.

Here, the press cut apparatus 44 can stamp out the interposer board 7from the raw material 30 by means of fixed side lower die 44 a andmovable side upper die 44 b and, furthermore, the upper die 44 b ismoved upward upon completion of the stamping. Hereupon, a shaft arm 47 fof the suction band 47 e rotates and the absorber 47 d is moved abovethe lower die 44 a and, then, the shaft arm 47 f is moved downward.

Consequently, the interposer board 7 stamped out from the raw material30 can be sucked and held by the absorber 47 d and, consecutively, theshaft arm 47 f is moved upward and rotated at the same time, and theabsorber 47 sucking and holding the interposer board 7 is moved on theslider with chuck 47 c.

In the foregoing, the absorber 47 d and the suction head 46 a come intocontact with the top face (face where the adhesive agent 35 a, 35 b andinsulating adhesive agent 14 are not applied or affixed) of the rawmaterial 10 shown in FIG. 10 to suck and hold the same, and, the chuckof the slider with chuck 47 c grasps right and left ends (right and leftends where the adhesive agent 35 a, 35 b is not applied or affixed inFIG. 10) of the raw material 10.

It should be appreciated that the transfer of the raw material 30 issuspended during the stamping and transfer of the interposer board 7,and resumed upon completion thereof. Thus, the raw material 30 istransferred intermittently. On the other hand, the raw material 37 istransferred continuously with a predetermined rate. Besides, theprojection of the lower die 44 a and the cavity of the upper die 44 bare composed of a material to which the adhesive agent 35 a, 35 b andinsulating adhesive agent 14 adhere hardly.

Next, the interposer board 7 transferred above the adhesion point to theraw material 37 is attached temporarily (bonded temporarily) by theinterposer board temporary affixer 46, in short, is attached temporarilythrough the insulating adhesive agent 14 and adhesive agent 35 a, 35 b,continuously, transferred to the interposer board final affixer 48, andfinally affixed (finally bonded) by compression or the like, andfurthermore, the insulating adhesive agent 14 and adhesive agent 35 a,35 b are heat set by the dryer 49, and thereafter, the product is takeup by the product winder 50.

It should be appreciated that the press cut apparatus 44, interposerboard transfer apparatus 47, board temporary affixer 46 and interposerboard final affixer 48 are configured into a multiple head type, inorder to increase the manufacturing speed.

The aforementioned series of manufacturing lines makes a high precisionbonder and so on unnecessary, and allows to manufacture the noncontactID card or the like at a low cost and with a high speed.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As mentioned hereinabove, according to the present invention, with theuse of an interposer board where an IC chip is embedded and expandedelectrodes connected to electrodes of the IC chip are formed, theexpanded electrodes can be registered easily in respect to the antennaelectrodes of the antenna circuit board when the interposer board islaminated to the antenna circuit board in a conductive state. Therefore,the increase of manufacturing cost (mainly packaging cost) of noncontactID card or the like can be prevented.

Moreover, in addition to the insulation of the predetermined point, theelectric bonding state of the electrode of the IC chip and the antennaelectrode of the antenna circuit board can be kept satisfactory (kept inthe conductive state), even for the lamination structure of the antennacircuit board and the interposer board, by reinforcing the bonding ofboth boards by charging insulating adhesive agent in the sealing sectionbetween the antenna circuit board and the interposer board, and formingthe under barrier metal layer (UBM layer) on the IC chip electrode.

What is claimed is:
 1. A noncontact ID card, comprising: an antennacircuit board having an antenna circuit substrate and an antenna formedon the antenna circuit substrate; and an interposer board having aninterposer substrate provided with a chip embedding hole, an IC chipinserted in the chip embedding hole and an expanded electrode formed onthe interposer substrate, said expanded electrode having a primaryterminal portion connected to an electrode of said IC chip and asecondary terminal portion integrally connected to the primary terminalportion, wherein both boards are laminated in a manner to bond anelectrode of said antenna and the secondary terminal portion of saidexpanded electrode.
 2. The noncontact ID card of claim 1, wherein saidantenna electrode and said expanded electrode are bonded by an electricconductive adhesive agent.
 3. The noncontact ID card of claim 1, whereinsaid antenna electrode and said expanded electrode are bonded directly,by gluing the substrate of said antenna circuit board and the substrateof said interposer board.
 4. The noncontact ID card of claim 2 or claim3, wherein an insulating adhesive agent is disposed between thesubstrate of said antenna circuit board and the substrate of saidinterposer board, in a way to seal an antenna formation section of saidantenna circuit board and an electrode formation section of said ICchip.
 5. The noncontact ID card of claim 4, wherein said IC chipelectrode has an under barrier metal layer.
 6. The noncontact ID card ofclaim 5, wherein the substrate of said interposer board and thesubstrate of said antenna circuit board are composed of a resin film. 7.The noncontact ID card of claim 1, wherein the primary terminal portionand the secondary terminal portion form a substantially plane surface.8. The noncontact ID card of claim 7, wherein the secondary terminalportion includes a plane portion wider than the primary terminalportion.
 9. The noncontact ID card of claim 1, wherein the IC chip hastapered side walls.
 10. The noncontact ID card of claim 1, wherein theantenna circuit board and the interposer board are laminated by means ofcaulking.
 11. The noncontact ID card of claim 1, wherein the expandedelectrode is printed on the interposer substrate.
 12. A manufacturingmethod of a noncontact ID card, comprising steps of: forming an antennaon an antenna circuit substrate to create an antenna circuit boardhaving the antenna circuit substrate and the antenna; forming a chipembedding hole on an interposer substrate; inserting an IC chip in thechip embedding hole on the interposer substrate; forming an expandedelectrode on the interposer substrate to create an interposer boardhaving the interposer substrate, the IC chip and the expanded electrode,the expanded electrode having a primary terminal portion connected to anelectrode of the IC chip and a secondary terminal portion integrallyconnected to the primary terminal portion; and laminating the interposerboard and the antenna circuit board in a way to bond an electrode of theantenna and the secondary terminal portion of the expanded electrode.13. The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID card of claim 12,wherein both boards are laminated in a way to bond said antennaelectrode and said expanded electrode with an electrically conductiveadhesive agent.
 14. The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID card ofclaim 12, wherein both boards are laminated in a way to bond directlysaid antenna electrode and said expanded electrode, by gluing thesubstrate of said antenna circuit board and the substrate of saidinterposer board.
 15. The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID cardof claim 13 or claim 14, wherein both boards are laminated after anadhesive agent application step for applying insulating adhesive agentto the interposer board, which have been through said electrodeformation step, in a way to coat an electrode formation section of saidIC chip.
 16. The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID card of claim15, wherein said expanded electrode is formed by the screen printingmethod.
 17. The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID card of claim12, wherein the primary terminal portion and the secondary terminalportion form a substantially plane surface.
 18. The manufacturing methodof a noncontact ID card of claim 17, wherein the secondary terminalportion includes a plane portion wider than the primary terminalportion.
 19. The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID card of claim12, wherein the IC chip has tapered side walls.
 20. The manufacturingmethod of a noncontact ID card of claim 12, wherein the antenna circuitboard and the interposer board are laminated by means of caulking. 21.The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID card of claim 12, whereinthe expanded electrode is printed on the interposer substrate.
 22. Amanufacturing method of a noncontact ID card, comprising steps of:forming a plurality of antennae on a antenna circuit board raw materialincluding a plurality of antenna circuit substrates; forming a pluralityof chip embedding holes on an interposer board raw material including aplurality of interposer substrates; inserting IC chips in the chipembedding holes on the interposer board raw material; forming aplurality of expanded electrodes on the interposer board raw material,each of the expanded electrode having a primary terminal portionconnected to an electrode of each of the IC chips and a secondaryterminal portion integrally connected to the primary terminal portion;cutting an interposer board off the interposer board raw material; andaffixing the interposer board onto an antenna circuit board within theantenna circuit board raw material in a way to bond an electrode of theantenna and the secondary terminal portion of the expanded electrode.23. A manufacturing method of a noncontact ID card, comprising steps of:cutting an interposer board off an interposer board raw material, theinterposer board raw material containing a plurality of interposerboards, each of the interposer boards having an interposer substrateprovided with a chip embedding hole, an IC chip inserted in the chipembedding hole and an expanded electrode formed on the interposersubstrate, the expanded electrode having a primary terminal portionconnected to an electrode of the IC chip and a secondary terminalportion integrally connected to the primary terminal portion; andaffixing the interposer board onto an antenna circuit board within anantenna circuit board raw material, the antenna circuit board rawmaterial containing a plurality of antenna circuit boards, each of theantenna circuit boards having an antenna circuit substrate and anantenna formed on the antenna circuit substrate, the interposer boardbeing affixed onto the antenna circuit board in a way to bond anelectrode of the antenna and the secondary terminal portion of theexpanded electrode.
 24. The manufacturing method of a noncontact ID cardof claim 23, wherein the antenna circuit board raw material and theinterposer board raw material are supplied from respective let-offgears.
 25. A manufacturing apparatus of a noncontact ID card,comprising: a device for cutting an interposer board off an interposerboard raw material, the interposer board raw material containing aplurality of interposer boards, each of the interposer boards having aninterposer substrate provided with a chip embedding hole, an IC chipinserted in the chip embedding hole and an expanded electrode formed onthe interposer substrate, the expanded electrode having a primaryterminal portion connected to an electrode of the IC chip and asecondary terminal portion integrally connected to the primary terminalportion; and a device for affixing the interposer board onto an antennacircuit board within an antenna circuit board raw material, the antennacircuit board raw material containing a plurality of antenna circuitboards, each of the antenna circuit boards having an antenna circuitsubstrate and an antenna formed on the antenna circuit substrate, theinterposer board being affixed onto the antenna circuit board in a wayto bond an electrode of the antenna and the secondary terminal portionof the expanded electrode.
 26. The manufacturing apparatus of anoncontact ID card of claim 25, further comprising: a primary let-oftgear for supplying the antenna circuit board raw material; and asecondary let-off gear for supplying the interposer board raw material.